‘Crossfire? Are you kidding me? Really?’ he muttered incredulously. However, Reason immediately took control and reassessed the situation.
‘The woman is closer. Position your body so that you can see them both at the same time and keep moving away. Give your undivided attention to the woman. I am going to handle the other one. Prepare a shield and keep watching. Now… Say it aloud.’
“Inhale!” I muttered and took a trained breath in again. “ShShSh”
With the absolute reaction time advantage of having an awakened mind, and twice at that, I positioned myself between the two hostiles and prepared three different mental images with each one of my consciousnesses. Sadly, one of the said consciousnesses was far from professional as can be expected from a five-day-old baby.
‘The damned burning just doesn't stop. By the way, what is this sticky thing in my ear?’
I tried to clean my ear by pressing it with the palm of my left hand for a moment of respite, and then glanced at the sticky liquid on it.
‘Red? Of course red! Blood. Both my eyes and ears are bleeding.’
Just like what happened for the umpteenth time in the last couple of instances, a better understanding of the current situation of my orifices put Passion into an untimely and unwarranted existential crisis.
‘But why? What happened to me? Why am I here? More importantly, who are these people?'
I decided to ignore his mumblings as long as he did his job and started to rub my ears to clean the blood and blinked a few more times, hoping that it would stop the bloody tears still pouring from my eyes. On the other hand, Reason was not in a state to tolerate nonsense.
'Enough is enough genius! Focus on the present and for God’s sake keep your eyes on the target. Say it again. Aloud!’
”Exhale!” I muttered and released the breath I was still holding slowly in a trained pattern. “FhFhFhFhFhFh”
‘The woman has finished her thing. A full breathing time… Even longer if you consider that I started counting late.’ Reason continued his analysis.
‘A single energy missile emanating from the palm of her hand. Poppy or Rose… Rose force missiles, or rather… Force missile? Very low on energy… But why so slow? There's something wrong with this whole setup. She is either bluffing or testing the other one. Don't take any risks.”
On the other hand, Passion was doing his job properly maybe for the first time today, and observing the woman with his all, trying to analyze the situation and prepare an appropriate countermeasure, albeit far less professionally than his older brother.
‘Shield?’ he asked and Reason answered his doubts.
‘No. No need for now. Whatever she is doing, it is not worth wasting a shield. We are going to wait for the other one’s reaction first and then decide.’
As my vision gradually improved, allowing me to see farther away, the ringing in my ears also began to subside. My eyes and lungs were still burning, but not as much as before. Then I began to discern the second figure better, which was a rather lanky man that has a very long auburn ponytail with a tint of red.
‘I know at least a few women that would kill to have such hair.’ mused Passion as soon as he -I- could be able to see the second figure properly.
While those were the expression of my own inner thoughts too, they still caused ire from Reason for being untimely. ‘You are letting your mind wander again. Focus!’
Multiple colored hairpins, bracelets, rings, and amulets on the Ponytail were even more eye-catching than his hair. However, the dandelion-colored sleeveless robe embroidered with countless emerald-colored symbols was more eye-catching than anything on him. Gold necklaces with different chain widths were dangling on his bare chest. I would have liked to say ‘flashy enough to make my eyes bleed’ but unfortunately, my eyes were really bleeding.
While I was observing the abode of the man, the rose-colored force missile the woman fired crept towards its target with a too slow pace for my taste. Naturally, long before it reached, the man was ready for it and then he started to cast his will again.
‘Shield? Well, but why sundaze? Are they testing each other?’ commented Reason on the countermeasure used by the man curiously.
The shield color of the man was just half a scale above the missle of the woman, which are both at the bottom of the visible spectrum. The stupidity of making one's missile or shield visible beside, making their approximate power visible was beyond Reason’s comprehension capabilities. Thus, he took the most logical explanation, which was testing or baiting the opponent.
Now that the ringing in my ears was subsiding, my hearing started to improve too. I seized upon that moment to further enhance my hearing with another versatile trigger word. I channeled an appropriate amount of energy toward my ears while preparing the proper mental image that would increase the air density inside my ears. While not being a direct intervention to the inner ear itself, this one too was as dangerous as the previous one.
“[Ezin]” I murmured softly, casting my will but using the trigger word which basically means hear in Imperial which may not only be used with the meaning of ‘guarantor’ for contract purposes but also with the meaning of ‘obey’, making it rather tricky and dangerous if used improperly, especially when used on the caster himself. Luckily again, the calculation capacity of Reason was far above these concerns.
As soon as the sound made its way to my ears again, Passion’s mood improved drastically. 'No stinging feeling in my ears this time at least.’ he mused happily.
Now that sound was a factor again, Reason immediately started to count this new variable in his assessment but this time Passion too started to contribute. Well, at least he tried to.
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‘They are talking non-stop and actually… What language is this?’
‘I don't know. Formal? Imperial? Archaic?’
‘No, none of them.’
‘But, why do they rhyme?’
‘That is not rhyming. They are chanting.’
‘As a form of a verbal component? Is that a joke?’
‘Doesn’t matter. Never underestimate your enemies. Look. The man has already stopped chanting but the woman still continues.’
‘What now? Counter-force-missiles?’
While the two incorporeal voices were bickering back and forth in my mind endlessly, the man finished rhyming or rather chanting. A force missile had formed on his palm and shot towards the woman.
‘Yes, it looks like a counter-force-missile. Still, it doesn't matter. Never underestimate unknown elements. Emerald… This one is too low on energy but noticeably faster.’
‘But what is she waiting for? Dodging at the last moment? Well… Grazed! Good reflexes though.’
‘Her reflexes are good but it is still too risky for my taste to dodge like that.’
‘Everything is too risky for your taste. What now? Is that some kind of dagger hidden in her sleeve? Wow! She is both daring and sneaky. I like her already.’
‘That woman is really dangerous. Look. She energizes the blade.’
‘Hmmm... Material component?’
‘No. That one is a focus.’
‘Kinetic?’
‘No, potential. The question is why? Rose again, and she doesn't use a shield either. I guess it's her last hurrah. Look the way she rotates around her own axis… to hide the dagger?’
‘Doesn’t matter. Isn’t it utter stupidity to take her eyes off the enemy?’
‘It is. Still, it's even more stupid for the man to just stand and watch while she is still doing it.’
‘Maybe they are not going for the kill but capture? Maybe it is a duel?’
‘I don’t think so. Look. The color has disappeared. Energy conversion from potential to kinetic when the dagger is out of sight… Splendidly performed. She is really talented.’
‘That doesn't change the fact that she is a complete idiot and I really can't believe the man is still watching. Wait! Is he looking at us?'
I took my time while the man and woman tested each other's defenses and listened to Reason keeping the focus of Passion on the hostiles subtly, like two broadcasters commenting on a live duel. I had absolutely no idea how one of one's own subconsciousness baits another, much younger subconsciousness subtly while the main consciousness knows everything. ‘Marvels of the mind I guess.’
The emerald shield that slid to the side while the man decided to shoot his own force missile now slid back and hung between them. However, the man wasn't even looking at his adversary anymore. At that moment, the dagger hit the Ponytail’s shield and stripped off its energy considerably. It continued to move forward alas deflected, leaving the shield visibly discolored. But it still held in the end. Still, the man didn't care about it. He was keeping his eyes on another target right now, which was me regrettably, and then started shouting.
“𐰽𐰭𐰀:𐰾𐰇𐰘𐰠𐰘𐰆𐰺𐰢:𐰢𐰋𐰾𐰠”
‘I think… He is trying to tell us something.’ Passion continued using his impeccable analysis skills like nothing unexpected happened, which earned him a sarcastic comment from Reason. ‘I think you are a genius.’
‘Oh! Come on. What was that for?’
While the two of them continued their inner bickering, the man shouted again in a voice with a much higher pitch, obviously offended for being ignored.
“𐰽𐰭𐰀:𐰾𐰇𐰘𐰠𐰘𐰆𐰺𐰢:𐰯𐱃𐰞:𐱁𐰘:𐰃𐱅𐰀𐰀𐱃:𐱅’
The sudden change in the atmosphere weirded Passion deeply while making Reason suspicious. However, there was a third party that showed a much different reaction.
‘Oookay, this is really creepy. Why is this guy yelling at us?’
‘I don’t know, I don’t care. But the question is… Why is the woman laughing?’
‘𐰚𐰱:𐰏𐰇𐰠𐰲𐰏𐰢:𐰖𐰸𐱃𐰆:𐰏𐰠𐰤𐰢𐰤:𐰋𐰃𐱅𐱅𐰃:𐰢𐰃:𐰖𐰸𐰽𐰀:𐰑𐰴𐰀:𐰋𐰚𐰠𐰘𐰲𐰚:𐰢𐰃𐰘𐰔’ shouted woman between giggles, o something like that, which made the man far angrier than my indifference.
“𐰴𐰯𐰀:𐰲𐰭𐰤𐰃:𐰾𐰇𐰼𐱅𐰜:𐰾𐰤𐰭:𐰓𐰀:𐰽𐰃𐰺𐰣:𐰏𐰠𐰲𐰚"
As far as I could deduce from the demeanor of the two, the will-slinging duel evolved into a word-slinging duel in moments in which the woman had an innate advantage over the man who only got angrier and angrier with each answer he got. That made my inner broadcasters resume their broadcast in the disguise of tactical assessment.
‘Here you go… Now they're both looking at us and shouting at each other. The woman does seem to be having fun though, aaand now the man started to wave his arms. Simply ridiculous.’
‘This is definitely not a good sign and he's not waving his arms. He is casting.’
But this time, none of us -I- had the intention to wait and watch from the sidelines again. Immediately, Passion announced his -my- decision.
‘Whatever… I am leaving this place immediately.’ which only made Reason stop him before he took action.
‘Not recruit… WE are leaving this place. Like you can leave without us… However, it looks like we must stop the man before leaving. I think a small warning shot will suffice.’
Funnily, Passion’s mood took a complete turn and he immediately took initiative.
‘Now, nooow… If you say so… Leave it to me. How was that…’
‘Fire management?’
‘Hah… Callsign: Passion’
Realizing the enthusiasm of Passion, Reason didn't want to intervene but still suggested moderation.
‘A small hydrogen flame would suffice.’ Which only fell on deaf… Ears? Consciousness?
‘Distance… About fifteen lengths… I think five lengths ahead of the target would be enough. If you take the shield into account, three lengths would be better.’ Passion finished his calculations announcing his -my- intention happily. Let's shake this guy's confidence a little bit…’
‘Don’t go overbroad.’ Reason reminded again, ever cautious. Thankfully this time he got an answer at least.
‘I won’t. Let’s see… Aim first, and then mental image…’
‘High pressure, high temperature, and finally, direct electric current…’ was at least a, relatively, safe mental image if only not a little bit ambitious due to being a three-step one. Regardless, not trusting anyone including me, Reason cross-checked the physical expression of the first part of the mental image formed between me and the man, Ponytail, a rather big sphere of compressed air, within moments and warned Passion. ‘Something is different? It looks like it's a little bigger than it should be…’
‘Well, it's not important.’ Passion discarded Reason’s concerns immediately. ‘After all, he asked for it.’ and continued having fun.
‘Now… The second part of the mental image… Low pressure… Wow, he is still doing that chanting thing. Sorry Ponytail you are just too slow.’
Just like being the epitome of reason like he intended to be, Reason cross-checked the physical expression of the second part of the mental image too, and warned us again. ‘Something is seriously wrong here. Hold fire!’
I stopped the sequence immediately hoping the release of the compressed air would interrupt the casting. However, the excitement took the better of someone much more trigger-happy than me, and Passion did what he intended to do.
‘Trigger’
'[Nar]'